Four Neatherd students, Emily Gibson and Daniel Allinson from Year 8 and Maisy Passam and Leah Stubbs from Year 7, were entered into the Norfolk heat of the Kids’ Lit Quiz at City Academy on the 20 November. They competed against thirty other teams from across Norfolk to show off their literary knowledge. After a gruelling two and a half hours being quizzed by a New Zealand professor the team did exceptionally well, coming fourth and only 3.5 points off the winning spot! They were a great credit to the school and received an award of books for being the highest scoring team not to win a round outright.

Even Mr Money came away with a book token, having won an audience question about mythological figures in literature! Organisers and visiting authors were hugely impressed by the wealth of knowledge demonstrated by all participants and were delighted to see such an obvious love of reading in the young people of the county. The students enjoyed the competition tremendously and we look forward to being involved again next year.

Dear Readers, What a fantastic term it has been at Neatherd. Any of you who have been in school will have felt that very special ‘Neatherd atmosphere’ (and if you haven’t experienced then please come and visit). I am biased (!) but I think we have truly wonderful children at our school – thank you parents and carers! We have benefitted hugely from some of our parents and carers coming to help in lessons, this has definitely added to the experience for students and, of course, been great for our staff – thank you. Testament also to our students’ sense of doing the right thing and being caring with others has been their fundraising for the Philippines’ Typhoon Appeal: well over £500 raised – just fantastic! I hope that you enjoy reading about our students’ many other achievements in this edition of Neatherd Hi! At this time of year we say goodbye to some staff: Mrs Williams (Science Learning Support Assistant), Mrs Dennis (Science Technician) and Mrs Gay (Attendance Officer). Ms Smith, our Deputy Head leaves us to join the Local Authority Advisory service. She has helped our school move on significantly in her three years with us. Lastly we say goodbye to Ms Byford who is retiring after over nine years at Neatherd. We will miss her hugely and the students paid her a fantastic tribute in an extended assembly at the end of term. Mrs Fish will be joining us in the Society and Ethics department in the New Year. My very best wishes to all of you for a very peaceful and happy Christmas and New Year. Yours, Peter Devonish, Headteacher.

By Mrs Slater Talking Turkeys!

How wide is your vocabulary?

Words of wisdom on widening your vocabulary!

This month literacy legend J-Ro shows you how you can look fantastically clever just by changing the words you use!

One of the nice things about the English language is that it contains lots of nice words...nearly ¼ million in fact! Unfortunately, a nice lot of people tend to use the same nice words a lot of the time. If you use the same nice words lots and lots, your writing becomes repetitious and, well, not very nice.

If you widen your vocabulary, you’ll look really clever, you’ll be able to express difficult ideas and your grades will start to go up and up!

See if you can match these words to the

appropriate definition. Then try using these

words this week. Find the answers later in

the magazine.

Aberration Found everywhere

Coerce Resentment, offence

Impeccable A remedy for all ills or difficulties

Incisive Lacking flavour; not lively

Insipid To make somebody do something by force or threat

Panacea

Clear, sharp, direct

Repudiate Ready to fight, cruel

Umbrage Deviation from what is normal

Truculent Exemplary, flawless

Ubiquitous To reject, refuse to accept

How wide is your vocabulary?

Listen to other people using new words. You can work out what they mean from the context.

Watch out for new words when you’re reading a book or on the internet. You can look up the words in an on-line dictionary. There are even some on-line dictionaries that will tell you how to pronounce the words.

Use a thesaurus to replace boring words with more exciting ones.

Listen carefully in lessons. You’ll learn lots of new technical words which you can use to impress people.

Once you’ve learnt a new word, try using it in a conversation. If you use it incorrectly, people will just frown and ask you what you’re going on about, but practice is really the only way of remembering new words.

Try playing some word games: Scrabble, Balderdash, Boggle, Hangman – you can even play some of these on line at: www.wordplays.com/p/index

After Christmas…

Next term, we’re going to begin a school-wide initiative to widen everyone’s vocabulary. On every classroom door around the school there will be a poster containing a word of the week. The poster will include a definition of the word together with an example of how the word can be used in a sentence. Any student using one of those words in their written work in any subject will be awarded a housepoint.

How to widen your vocabulary!

Boggle

Improve your

literacy by

having a go at

Boggle. See how

many words you

can make from

the letters in

the box to the

right.

The Friends of Neatherd High have had a busy Autumn organising both a very successful Quiz

& Chips Night and, in conjunction with the Creative Arts Department, a wonderful Neatherd's Got Talent. The Quiz Night

attracted 16 teams and although everyone battled bravely, the reigning team retained their crown! Another Quiz Night is planned for next Spring and we are hopeful the Eggheads will

enter. Neatherd's Got Talent 2013 proved again what a talented bunch Neatherd students are.

Once again we are about to undertake the very enjoyable job of allocating all the funds raised this year. The Friends of Neatherd High are a very friendly bunch of 10 or so volunteers who really enjoy organising the different events that

raise funds to help buy a variety of diverse items for the benefit of the pupils. We are now desperately in need of new volunteers

and if you may be able to give a few hours a month we would be delighted to hear from you. Please drop us a line by visiting our

Facebook page Friends of Neatherd High, by email at friends@neatherd.org or via our

Friends box in the school reception.

During November each year, Movember is

responsible for the sprouting of millions of

moustaches around the world. With their “Mo’s”

men raise vital funds and awareness for prostate

and testicular cancer, and mental health. As an

independent global charity, Movember’s vision is

to have an everlasting impact on the face of men’s

health. Movember challenges men to grow a

moustache for the 30-days of November, thereby

changing their appearance and the face of men’s

health.

Mr Everett, Mr Russell and Mr Woodroffe all

decided to down the shavers for a month and

LET_THE_MO_GROW!

We may not have raised as

much as we first anticipated but,

to use a strapline we all know so

well, “Every Little Helps”!

We would like to thank all those

who have already donated and

anyone else who donates; you

have all helped make a

difference. Thank you!

A group of year 10 GCSE Media Studies students were offered the opportunity of visiting the BBC at the Forum

in Norwich recently. James Clarke explains what happened on the day: our day at the Forum was one of the

most entertaining and useful trips I’ve been on. We were required to make a short film and felt as though we

could really unleash our creative side as there were so few restrictions on the type of film we were able to

create.

After spending a morning talking about films, and practising making them (and getting free tea and coffee!), we

went to the Norwich Castle to film. When filming was finished we were allowed to get lunch in the city while

being remotely supervised, before going back to the BBC studios to try our hand at editing. To finish the day,

we were shown the BBC television studios, watched a radio show being broadcast and even went in the Look

East news room! It was awesome!!

I would strongly recommend this trip to any media student. Special thanks to Mr Rootham for arranging the trip.

Year 7

All of Year 7 visited Wells and Overstrand to examine how we are protecting our North

Norfolk coastline. Mr Stafford said that, “The students were immaculately behaved all day

and a real credit to the school.” Sam from year 7 said, "It was such a fun day. We were

really lucky with the weather and it was great to be able to see in person what we had

been learning about in class."

Our first Flexible Learning Day took place in November. The focus was upon developing skills in a cross-curricular

manner. The skills we focused on were teamwork, being good self-mangers, effective participators and creative

thinkers. It was a really successful day with many parents and outside agencies involved.

Year 8

Year 8 spent the day learning about Britishness and multiculturalism. They took part in

various workshops during the day including: a poetry workshop with acclaimed poet Hollie

McNish – who has performed at the Edinburgh Festival and the Latitude Festival. One

student said that, ‘Hollie McNish was amazing - I loved writing the poem and listening to

her ideas.” They also had sessions with Travellers Services and a journalist about

immigration and stereotyping.

Year 9

Year 9 spent the day either at the Natural History Museum with the Science

Department, or at school with the Creative Arts Department exploring globalisation

and sustainability through dance, drama and art. Students then used their teamwork

skills to produce a performance of their work at the end of the day. One student said,

‘I really enjoyed my day doing dance; it was great fun!”

Year 10

Year 10 spent the day exploring career options. Some of the year group visited the Sixth Form to experience a sample lesson and have a tour so that they could begin to think about post-GCSE options. They also had a talk from a variety of visitors about careers options. Visitors included teachers, an army major, police, hairdressers and paramedics! “We had a fantastic day and it’s made me realise that I need to plan for

when I finish my GCSEs,” said a year 10 student.

Year 11

Students revisited their study of ‘Of Mice and Men’ in preparation for one of the mock exams and were provided with an opportunity to improve on previous grades achieved in controlled assessments. Students spent the day revising their skills of analysis and interpretation with their English teacher followed by time completing their controlled assessment. They focused upon language analysis and characterisation. Students used teamwork and independent enquirer skills to develop their knowledge further. One student said that, “I found today really useful and hope that I’ve improved my

assessment significantly.”

Talented

Now in its fourth year, Neatherd’s Got Talent was another massive success with all students performing well and the audience being amazed once more! The talent was strong and all of the performers shone. In the words of Mr Devonish, one of the show’s esteemed judges, “It

was a night full of originality.” The audience was treated to an array of singing, dancing, comedy and musical talent from the 14 acts that performed.

In addition to Mr Devonish, the judges for the evening comprised of Mrs Williamson, Mr

Humphreys, and of course our Head Boy and Head Girl, Declan Matwij and Amy-Louize King. The judges’ decision for a winning act was a wonderful singer/song writer from Year 10,

Charlotte Bunting. Her talent was evident through her guitar playing, singing and song-writing! She wrote a moving song influenced by the pressures of her school life; the tune was

memorable and made the audience bob along with smiles on their faces.

The audience also had the opportunity to vote for their favourite act having been issued with one voting slip each with their entrance. The audience’s choice was a singer from Year 11 who has taken part in previous Talent Shows but had been narrowly pipped to the post by others.

This year’s deserving winner was Katie Da Silva who performed the emotional song Clown with a mature and professional voice, making sure that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!

All students who took part were clearly very talented and the voting was very close. It was good to see so many of Neatherd’s students showing off their abilities with such confidence.

The Friends of Neatherd High School ran an extremely successful event aided by members of the Creative Arts Team. Other notable student helpers were Henry Stanford and Alex Selwin,

who debuted on the lights. The Friends of Dereham Neatherd High School are hoping the profits from the evening will help pay for various projects in school. The Committee would like

to thank everyone who supported them, especially the students who put on a really professional show.

Answers to the vocabulary quiz!

Aberration Deviation from what is normal

Coerce To make somebody do something by force or threat

Impeccable Exemplary, flawless

Incisive Clear, sharp, direct

Insipid Lacking flavour; not lively

Panacea

A remedy for all ills or difficulties

Repudiate To reject, refuse to accept

Umbrage Resentment, offence

Truculent Ready to fight, cruel

Ubiquitous Found everywhere

It’s been a busy start for the Careers and Work Related Learning Department this year. First we had the Post 16 Options evening with over 200 people visiting the most

diverse range of providers we have ever had! This was then followed by two highly successful mock interview days for

Year 11 where students were once again given an opportunity to take part in a mock interview for a job of their choosing. The event was arranged by Mrs Broughton who did a fantastic job co-ordinating all the different interviews. During their Society and Ethics lessons students prepared CVs and completed application forms. On the day students dressed in their smartest business clothes and looked very professional! One student commented that, “The day has

given me an opportunity to work on my interview technique before I have to do it for real.” The interviewers commented

positively on all our students and all students were given constructive feedback. Students were given a written report

which they placed in their record of achievement. As a schoo,l we would like to thank all the outside visitors who

made the event so successful. Finally we held a very successful Careers Day during

Flexible Learning Day where we launched next year’s work experience for Year 10 which is going to take place from

16-20 June. Mr Hodges

We’ve had a very busy time in The Link this term. Lots of new Year 7 students have enjoyed a wide range of

lunchtime activities whilst making friends with children from other year groups, some of whom are ‘old hands’ whose

community spirit has enabled new students to settle quickly into their routines. Those students, who receive

timetabled sessions in The Link, have enjoyed a range of multisensory literacy and numeracy activities. We hold

lively clubs at lunchtime including a weekly pool tournament; chess club with membership badges and league

tables. The Wii is as popular as ever and we now have a totally safe dart board where students enjoy tournaments

whilst practising numeracy skills. We also have students who like to read from the wide range of reading materials

available in The Link including The Phoenix, a weekly student magazine and First News, a weekly newspaper for

young people. As you can see from the photos, our students from across the school cohort, enjoy a vast range of

complementary learning activities in a safe, secure and calm environment.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from the SEND Team!

With two literary stars visiting the school

in the same week, the English

department organised a programme of

events designed to get students at

Neatherd High School loving literature.

The week began with a frenzied Book

Swap Shop. On Monday lunchtime,

outside the canteen, students were able

to bring the books they had read and

loved, and swap them for a new text.

The swap shop proved such a success,

it carried on all week!

A sad looking tree trunk display with

bare, empty branches was transformed

by our lower school students who used

their English lessons to write leaf-shaped

reviews for The Reading Tree. Once in

full bloom and brightening up reception,

the tree was an assortment of autumnal

leaves showing the students’ opinions on

the latest young literature. On Tuesday,

during tutor time, every person in the

school stopped what they were doing to

take part in Neatherd Reads. Some

classes were even treated to senior

members of staff visiting classrooms to

read extracts from their favourite stories.

On Wednesday, Alexander Gordon

Smith visited the school to give Year 8 an

inspirational assembly about how he

became a hugely successful writer of YA

(Young Adult) fiction. He also worked with

three classes throughout the morning,

providing a practical (and very

memorable!) horror writing workshop. At

breaktime, students had the opportunity to

purchase Gordon Smith’s novels. Many

students were inspired to produce some

horror writing of their own.

On the final day of the Neatherd Festival of

Literature, upper school students were

treated to a poetry reading and Q&A

session with performer, children’s writer

and poet, John Agard. Recently selected

for the Queen’s Gold Medal for poetry,

Agard shared extracts from his award-

winning collections. Students had the

opportunity to question Agard on the

themes and ideas in his poems and some

seized the chance to request a

performance of their favourite poems. He

received a great reception, being greeted,

as the EDP put it: “with whoops and cheers

normally reserved for pop stars.”

All in all the Festival was a great success

and we hope to repeat it next year!

On Monday 11 November, twenty Year 6 students from Mattishall Primary School visited Dereham Neatherd High School for an action-packed day of Science and French. As part of Neatherd High School’s outreach programme, Year 6 students had the opportunity to have a taster of life in a secondary school. Primary Outreach Coordinator and organiser of the event, Mrs Jo Ahrenfelt, said, “Our aim is to work closely with our colleagues and students in the primary schools in the Dereham cluster, working together for the benefit of our young people and learning from each other. We try to create as many opportunities as possible for primary students to visit our school as we believe being familiar with a school and its facilities prior to starting in Year 7 can really help to create a smooth and stress-free transition for the students.” During the day, students attended a science session, working in a specialised laboratory classroom and taking part in a variety of fun experiments, some of which involved students using Bunsen burners for the first time. They also took part in a French session both in a language classroom and in the language computer suite, revising and extending their knowledge of topics covered at Key Stage 2 and also looking at the French culture through a general knowledge quiz and a French cheese tasting session. When reflecting upon the day, Year 6 student, Amelia Grace Chapman, said, “The day was amazing - the science session was so exciting and I loved learning about the colours and using the Bunsen burner. French was really good as well - I particularly enjoyed the cheese tasting and learning lots of new opinion phrases in French to express what we thought about the different cheeses!”

We have a very active STEM team here at Neatherd. STEM is a combination of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and the club members regularly take part in

competitions (and always do really well). The Regional Final of the ‘First Lego League’ event took place recently at Duxford, with the team gaining a trophy for second placing, amongst competitors who were, in the main, much older! Below is a photo of some of the team: Daniel Allinson, Harry

Sutton (both Year 8), Finlay Reid (Year 7) and Emily Birt (Year 9).

The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League (also known by the acronym FLL) is an international competition. In September each year, a new

challenge is announced that focuses on a different real-world topic related to the sciences. Each challenge within the competition then revolves around that theme. The robotics part of the

competition revolves around designing and programming Lego Robots to complete tasks. The students work out solutions to the various problems they are given and then meet for regional

tournaments to share their knowledge, compare ideas, and display their robots. This year’s remit: Can FIRST® LEGO® League teams help us master natural disasters? In the

2013 NATURE’S FURY℠ Challenge, over 200,000 children ages 9 to 16* from over 70 countries

will explore the awe-inspiring storms, quakes, waves and more that we call natural disasters. Teams will discover what can be done when intense natural events meet the places people live, work, and play. Brace yourself for NATURE’S FURY! Come and join STEM club to get involved!

During the October half term, students from

Neatherd and Northgate went to Iceland! On

this trip, we got to do and see some amazing

things. When we arrived, we drove to the

capital, Reykjavik. We were then able to look

around and do some shopping. While doing

this, we could admire the beautiful scenery

such as a mountain across the bay in the

sunset; with the snow on the top of the

mountain it looked beautiful. From here we

drove eastwards to our accommodation for

the five days at the Skalinn Centre. Here we

tasted some traditional Icelandic cuisine and

were very well looked after.

On the third day, Monday, we

got a ferry over to the island

of Heimaey. This is where we

climbed a volcano and sat at

the top to eat our lunch! The

ground underneath was so

warm that we toasted our

sandwiches on the rocks!!

After this we were able to

relax in the local pool and

then catch the ferry back.

On our second day we visited a

Tomato Greenhouse Farm which is

also home to some Icelandic horses.

From there, we visited Thingvellir

National park which is where the Mid-

Atlantic ridge is found and the Geysir

Exhibition centre where we saw a

geyser that erupted every five minutes

or so! The final part of the day was

when we went to see Gullfoss

waterfall that is a spectacular double

waterfall.

Tuesday was a very full day; we

walked up Stora Dimon, visited

two water falls, Seljalandsfoss

and Skogafoss, walked on

Solheimajokull glacier, visited

the Eyjafjallajokull centre (the

volcano that caused all the flight

problems in 2010) and finally

went to the Reynisdranger

beach where the sand is black!

Our final day was one to remember. We had

an early rise but it was all worth it to spend

the day at the Blue Lagoon. This is a giant

spa and pool all heated by the geothermal

activity under the site. We had around two

and a half hours there and then we headed to

the airport. It’s by far the best place I’ve ever

been and I would recommend it as a place to

visit by anybody. We all hope to return one

day! Many thanks to our teachers for

organising such a fantastic trip.

By Billy Collier, Yr10

The annual ‘Halloween Food For Life Cook-off’ heralded another sublime gastronomic event as 11 teams battled it out to be crowned the Food For Life Halloween Cook

Off Champs 2013. It really was a fantastic event, with the Cook Off HQ packed to the rafters with chefs, foodies & judges! Many were cooking with organic, home grown

vegetables and fruit. Everything had pumpkin in it to celebrate the theme!

All teams, consisting of mainly a student and teacher, had to prepare a

savoury and a sweet dish. After around 30 minutes every contestant was on edge

and becoming very competitive! After a difficult job tasting and trying all the dishes

the Judges Mr Clennell, Mr O’Brien & Miss Hamrick decided unanimously on the

victorious top three: in first place were a deserving Mr Mayhew & Cooper Hopcroft,

with a very clever pumpkin, chestnut & saffron tortiglioni, followed by pumpkin and

cream cheese roulade. Wow! In second place were Miss Hiscoke & Tom Jones, with a

world-beating pie & cheesecake combo, which was delicious. In third place were

Bradley Aldus & Jake Chapman, with a lovely squash risotto & pumpkin cupcakes.

Legendary stuff after losing both their teachers to illness! Well done lads!! Another

impressive Cook-Off where cooking standards were extremely high and all the dishes

were delicious. The FFLP aprons and packets of pumpkin seeds made great prizes!

Dereham Neatherd High School edged ever closer to becoming the UK’s only secondary

school to hold the Food For Life Partnership’s prestigious Gold Award after their

fantastically successful Roast Dinner Day in November! Guests from around the

community were invited into the school for a delicious & nutritious roast dinner and to take

the opportunity to sit down together and enjoy good conversation in the school’s nationally

rated canteen, whose catering was recently taken over by local company Edwards &

Blake.

Chef Graeme and his wonderful team worked tirelessly to produce and serve over 500 lunches to guests,

students and staff! All the food was made from fresh, local and mainly organic produce. Guests included

students and staff from Dereham Church Infants School & Kinsale Infants School in Norwich, residents & carers

from Eckling Grange Care Home, representatives from the Dereham Allotments Association, ensuring four

generations of local people enjoyed the occasion.

Food For Life Co-ordinator Mr Clennell said, “This is the fourth year that we have held

this Day and every year we enjoy it more and more. Our aim at the school, through our

involvement with the Food For Life Partnership & the School’s Food Plan, is to emphasise

the importance of healthy eating, using local & seasonal food, and to also take an active

part in growing it and cooking it. We are all set to become Food For Life Gold Award

winners in the very near future, which makes me hugely proud of all the work we have done so far!”

On Tuesday 26 November some of our Year 11 boys took part in a Dodgeball Tournament held at Hellesdon High School. Our students played against Year 10s and 11s from Hellesdon and Northgate High. The tournament was very well run and the boys really enjoyed it. They played superbly, coming 2nd and 3rd out of 8 teams. The teams included: Brandon Duhaney, Alfie Archard, Ryan Batson-Long, Sonny Richmond, Curtis Aldus, Rob Ellis, Carl Smith, Micka Singh, Harry Barnes, Tom Younie, Tom Mansfield, Owen Bradfield, Declan Moore and Alex Clements. Well done to them all!

Our Sports Leaders have once again been keeping up our fantastic reputation while

working with young children from local primary schools. Sportshall Athletics was our

first event, in which 9 teams totalling approximately 150 Year 5 and 6 students from the

Dereham Cluster participated. Two weeks later we were organising the Neatherd

Cluster KS1 Multiskills Festival which approximately 150 Year 1 and 2 student took part

in! It was great to hear staff from participating schools commenting on how well our

students were working with the young people, and how confident they were. Well done

to all involved in both events!

It’s been a brilliant all around sporting term for Football! All year

groups within the school have a team that is entered into the South

Norfolk League, South Norfolk Cup and County Cup. So far we have

played a total of 16 games through these various competitions and

impressively 12 of them have been successful for the mighty

Neatherd teams! Standout victories for the Neatherd teams have been

the Year 7s 2-1 South Norfolk Cup victory away at Northgate on a

cold Friday morning, the Year 8s demolition of Attleborough 9-0 in the

South Norfolk Cup, and most impressive of all was the Year 10s 2-1

win over a well-drilled Wymondham College team also in the South

Norfolk Cup! Well done to all involved.

The students who are involved with these teams are to be

congratulated on their dedication to come training each lunchtime, the

teamwork they show on the pitch and the organisation that goes into

getting teams and equipment ready by the captains of every team. It

has not always been plain sailing for many of our teams this year, with

the majority of our fixtures being away and forcing us to travel to all

sorts of green parts of Norfolk. However, we kick on and look forward

to cup quarter-finals for Years 8 and 10, a cup semi-finals for Year 7s

and Year 11s and hopefully league winners’ finals mid-2014 for as

many of our students as possible. Mr Barron and Mr Hood.

The Year 8 Rugby Team excelled recently beating

Sheringham High School 50 tries against their 5! This was in response to Sheringham beating us in the Year 7 tournament last year, and in the Year 8 tournament this year! All the training and hard work showed on the field

from all team members- well done lads! Mr Miller.